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Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Thangtong Gyalpo
We recently shared a new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche in which Rinpoche shares his advice for practices concerning protection and healing from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as well as oral transmissions of the Vajra Armor mantra and four other recommended prayers.
FPMT Education Services is pleased to share a draft transcript of this advice. All are welcome to download this to your device or read online.
For more detailed advice on the practices recommended by Rinpoche, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
Additional resources for this difficult time, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
There is a new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on his advice for practices for coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Rinpoche recorded this video in March 2020 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.
The new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins with a teaching and motivation for doing the practices. Then Rinpoche gives additional advice along with the oral transmission of a mantra and four prayers.
Watching this video attentively can qualify as having received the oral transmission of the following mantra and prayers, if viewed with the intention of receiving the oral transmission from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Watch video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19):
https://youtu.be/O7oTHLEQn6Y
In this video Rinpoche gives the following oral transmission:
- Vajra Armor mantra (this mantra is recommended in “Advice to Protect Yourself and Others from the Coronavirus” from Rinpoche.)
- Swift Fulfillment of Wishes in Dependence on the Great Jetsun Tsongkhapa
- The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease” (This prayer is recommended in “Advice to Protect Yourself and Others from the Coronavirus” from Rinpoche.)
- The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: Words of Truth Pacifying the Danger of Weapons
- The Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: A Request to Pacify the Fear of Famine
Read the transcript of this video.
For more detailed advice on the practices recommended by Rinpoche, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
Additional resources for this difficult time, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
In these challenging and anxious times, FPMT International Office offers our prayers and best wishes to all who are navigating uncertainty and change during the coronavirus pandemic.
We have created a page of resources and advice related to this crisis in order to make it as easy as possible for you to find recommended practices, prayers, online study and practice resources, and news about Lama Zopa Rinpoche and from around the FPMT organization.
This page will be updated as new advice and news become available and should be consulted as an up-to-date resource for Dharma practice during the time of this pandemic.
Find advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dharma study materials, and other updates on “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic” page on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching in Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas is a new book from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In it, Rinpoche offers instruction on the six perfections, a key Mahayana Buddhist teaching. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s “Introduction”:
The Sanskrit for perfection is paramita, which literally means “gone beyond.” The perfections are the practices of bodhisattvas, holy beings who have completely renounced the self; they have transcended selfish concerns and cherish only others.
Each perfection is perfect, flawless. Each arises from bodhichitta and is supported by the other perfections, including the wisdom of emptiness. Because of that, a bodhisattva generates infinite merit every moment, whether outwardly engaged in working for others or not. A bodhisattva’s bodhichitta never stops. Even sleeping, there is no self-cherishing; even in a coma, infinite merit is still created.
Cover of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book
The six perfections are as follows:
- Charity (dana)
- Morality (shila)
- Patience (kshanti)
- Perseverance (virya)
- Concentration (dhyana)
- Wisdom (prajna)
The first perfection is the perfection of charity. Its nature is the virtuous thought of giving. With that thought we perform the three types of charity: giving material objects, giving fearlessness, and giving the Dharma. These encompass all our actions of body, speech, and mind, such as giving material objects, protecting from fear, and giving the Dharma.
The second perfection is the perfection of morality, of which there are three types: refraining from nonvirtue, gathering virtuous deeds, and working for others. The first, refraining from nonvirtue, is abstaining from actions that harm sentient beings. The second, gathering virtuous deeds, means completely giving up the thought of seeking happiness for the self, including seeking self-liberation. The third, working for others, means just that—protecting sentient beings from harm as well as helping them in any way we can.
Then there is the perfection of patience. The nature of patience is keeping the mind in virtue whenever we encounter disturbance and harm. (We could endure these with a nonvirtuous mind as well, which is why the distinction is made.) There are three types of patience: not retaliating when harmed, accepting suffering, and having certainty about the Dharma. Accepting suffering means our mind remains calm and undisturbed whenever we receive harm from either sentient beings or nonliving things. Having certainty about the Dharma means always abiding in the wish to continuously practice the Dharma no matter what the circumstance.
The perfection of perseverance means being happy to practice virtue—specifically, being happy to practice each of the perfections—and doing work for all sentient beings. This includes virtuous actions of the body and speech, such as doing prostrations and reciting mantras.
With the fifth perfection, concentration, through both analytical meditation and single-pointed concentration we constantly reflect on the meaning of the teachings and put them into practice. For instance, when we do a shamatha, or calm-abiding meditation, using Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the Buddha is the object of meditation; if we are meditating on bodhichitta, the mind of enlightenment, when we place our mind single-pointedly on bodhichitta, that is the object of meditation.
The last perfection is the perfection of wisdom, of which there are two types. One type realizes the conventional (or all-obscuring) truth, which includes the nature of impermanence or the law of cause and effect. The other type realizes the ultimate truth, the emptiness of all phenomena. Generally, the perfection of wisdom refers to realizing emptiness.
Excerpted from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas, edited by Gordon McDougall and published by Wisdom Publications.
Learn more about the book, including information on ordering, on Wisdom Publication’s website:
https://wisdomexperience.org/product/the-six-perfections/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently offered advice on practices to do to protect from the coronavirus. As part of the advice, Rinpoche recommended a specific puja be done. The puja has now been arranged at Sera Je Monastery in India. It has also been arranged to be done in Tibet.
Rinpoche now offers this additional advice to protect from the coronavirus:
Rinpoche says that in addition to his earlier advice people should also recite “The Prayer Liberating Sakya from Disease” ( PDF, Audio). The prayer comes from the great yogi Thangtong Gyalpo (1385–1464) and is for healing from disease.
While doing this prayer, students should look at an image of Thangtong Gyalpo. (The image of Thangtong Gyalpo below is from a thangka in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s house.)
Rinpoche added, “the previous mantras are to protect yourself and others, but this prayer from Thangtong Gyalpo is to heal the disease in China and for it not to spread out to other countries. So it is to protect the country. And anyone in the world can recite this prayer.”
Thangtong Gyalpo
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s earlier advice to protect from the coronavirus is here:
https://fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche/lama-zopa-rinpoche-offers-advice-to-protect-from-the-coronavirus/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche was asked what can be done for the outbreak of the coronavirus. UPDATE: Rinpoche has offered additional advice.
Rinpoche advised the arrangement of a wrathful fire puja offered by Jhado Rinpoche in South India at Sera Je Monastery. [This was done. Also a Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong was offered at Kopan Monastery and at Sera Je Monastery, and a number of other pujas were arranged in India and Nepal.]
Individual students can do the following mantra recitation practice:
As a motivation before reciting the two mantras, Rinpoche said it’s best if people can do The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices, which is the daily morning practice Rinpoche has put together. That is best. But if that is too much, then do the lamrim motivation, which is just The Method without additional practices. [In other words, do the recitation on pages 7–14 of the booklet and stop at the Additional Practices, which begin with the “Blessing the Speech” section.] So at least do that part as a motivation before reciting the mantras.
- Recite Vajra Armor mantra, which is a famous mantra for healing. You can do the entire Vajra Armor Protection Wheel if you want. Otherwise, just do the mantra:
HŪṂ VAJRA PHAṬ* / OṂ PADMAŚHAVARI PHAṬ / NÄN PAR SHIG / NĀGANAN / TADYATHĀ / SARVAVIRITA / HANA HANA / VAJRENA RAKṢHA RAKṢHA SVĀHĀ
*Lama Zopa Rinpoche often gives the oral transmission of the mantra with the additional syllables “HŪṂ VAJRA PHAṬ,” as was taught by Trulshik Rinpoche. These syllables are recited with each recitation of the mantra. There are other lineages of the mantra that do not contain these syllables.
After you finish reciting the mantra, hold your hand in front of your mouth and blow the air up, so it goes into your nostrils.
Vajra Armor
- Then also recite Black Manjushri mantra. The Meditation-Recitation of Black Manjushri is also good to do if you want. Otherwise, just do the mantra:
OṂ TRA SÖ / CHHU SÖ / DUR TA SÖ / DUR MI SÖ / NYING GO LA CHHÖ / KHA LA JAḤ KAṂ ŚHAṂ TRAṂ / BÄ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ
Black Manjushri
Then at the end, do dedication prayers:
JANG CHHUB SEM CHHOG RIN PO CHHE
May the precious supreme bodhichitta
MA KYE PA NAM KYE GYUR CHIG
Not yet born arise.
KYE PA NYAM PA ME PA YI
May that arisen not decline,
GONG NÄ GONG DU PHEL WAR SHOG
But increase more and more.
GE WA DI YI NYUR DU DAG
Due to this virtue, may I quickly
LA MA SANG GYÄ DRUB GYUR NÄ
Become a Guru-Buddha,
DRO WA CHIG KYANG MA LÜ PA
And lead all transmigratory beings,
DE YI SA LA GÖ PAR SHOG
Without exception, to that state.
Due to all the merits of the three times collected by me, the numberless buddhas, and the numberless sentient beings, may all wars, sickness, famine, torture, poverty, and economic problems in the world, and all dangers of earth, water, fire, and wind, be pacified immediately, and may perfect peace and happiness prevail in everyone’s hearts and lives. May the Buddhadharma last for a long time, and may the sentient beings in this world meet the Buddhadharma and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.
Due to all the past, present, and future merits collected by me and all the merits of the three times collected by the numberless buddhas and numberless sentient beings, which are completely empty of existing from their own side, may I, who am completely empty of existing from my own side, achieve the state of full enlightenment, which is completely empty of existing from its own side, and lead all sentient beings, who are completely empty of existing from their own side, to that state, which is completely empty of existing from its own side, by myself alone, who is completely empty of existing from my own side.
Scribe: Ven. Holly Ansett, January 23, 2020.
Links to the practices in this advice can be found here:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/
Additional advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for protection from coronavirus:
https://fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche/additional-advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-to-protect-from-the-coronavirus/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the 52nd Kopan Course, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2019. Photo by Neal Patrick.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave this advice for a practice to do for world peace in June 2004.
My dear Dharma brothers and sisters,
It looks like there could be a lot of violence happening in Iraq.
It comes out very beneficial if people read the Golden Light Sutra at least 1,000 times and dedicate it for peace in Iraq and the rest of world. This will at least reduce the killing and suffering.
The holy Sutra of Golden Light is the king of the sutras (Ser.ö dam.päi do wang.gyi gyälpo). It is extremely powerful and fulfills the wishes, as well all the peace and happiness, of all sentient beings, up to enlightenment. It is also powerful for world peace, your own protection, and the protection of your country and the world. Also, it has great healing power for people in the country, even if only one person reads it.
I am offering my suggestion for people who desire peace for themselves and for others. This is the spiritual, or Dharma, way to bring peace that doesn’t require you to harm others, doesn’t require you to criticize others or even to demonstrate against others, yet can accomplish peace. So I hope some people, Buddhists and even non-Buddhists who desire world peace, will read this text.
This also protects individuals and the country from what are labeled natural disasters—of the wind element, fire element, earth element, and water element—such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones, fires, tornadoes, etc. They are not natural, because they come from causes and conditions that make dangers happen. They come from past inner negative thoughts and actions of people, and external conditions. Their creation is not natural, it happens from our own side.
So here, I would like to make this request with my two palms together to please recite the Sutra of Golden Light for world peace as much as you can.
Thank you very much.
With much love and prayers,
Lama Zopa
Find resources on the Golden Light Sutra and links to the sutra in fifteen languages:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/sutras/golden-light-sutra/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Putting up prayer flags, New Mexico, US, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“When there was unceasing war in Kham (Me Nyak), Tibet, and nobody was able to create harmony, the Great Lord Yogi (Thang Thong Gyalpo) came to Kham, generated bodhichitta, and just by merely saying these true words and sprinkling flowers, all the vicious minds (jealousy and anger) were completely pacified and the war that had been continuous, ceased. There were prosperous harvests and so forth. The country became auspicious and peaceful. This is blessed vajra speech,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said as preface to his translation of a prayer by the great tantric yogi Thang Thong Gyalpo.
“… Through whatever merits have come from making this translation available, may wherever this text is (whichever country) and also by reading this prayer, cause all the people’s hearts be filled with loving kindness, bodhichitta, and the thought to only benefit and not harm. May the sun of peace and happiness arise and may any wars that are happening stop immediately. May there be harmony, peace, and may there never be war or violence again.” Rinpoche made this translation of Thang Thong Gyalpo’s “Prayer for Peace” after the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001 in the United States.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche observes while incense offerings are made while new prayer flags are hung, Taos, New Mexico, August 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
HERE ARE THE WORDS OF TRUTH PACIFYING THE DANGERS OF WEAPONS
OM MANI PADME HUM
Great Loving Victorious One (Maitreya Buddha), Transcendental Sublime Compassionate Eye Looking One,
Wrathful Victorious Hayagriva, Fully Accomplished Totally Pure (Jetsun) Tara and so forth,
Merely hearing your holy names eliminates all dangers,
Objects of refuge in the nature of compassion, please pay attention!When the sentient beings of the time of quarreling and five degenerations
By the explosion of the great ocean of evil karma and jealousy
Are tormented by the intensive suffering of fighting and quarreling
Please dry this up by the power of transcendental wisdom and compassion.By letting great rainfalls of the nectar of loving kindness fall
On the migratory beings who are inflaming the conflagration of hatred-fire
Please grant blessings with the recognition of each other like father-mother
Then increase happiness and auspiciousness.May the multitudes of the vicious evil spirits
Who enter the mental continuum and
Change it instantly to the mind of asura
From now on never run in this area (country/world).I am requesting for even all the sentient beings who have died in the war
To abandon from that time onward all the evil karma, cause and effect,
Then having entered and been born in the Blissful Field (Amitabha’s Pure Land)
To lead all others to that Pure Land.Please bless all those who are born and die (samsaric beings)
To have a long life, no sicknesses, to pacify all quarreling and fighting,
Enjoy the ten virtues, have rainfall at the right times, always have good harvests
And for all the habitat and inhabitants to be auspicious and increase.By the ultimate reality which is pure by nature,
By phenomena having ultimate reality, cause and result are unbetrayable,
And by the compassion of the Guru, Mind-seal Deity and Rare Sublime Ones,
May these pure extensive prayers be completed.
You can find the “Prayer Flag to Avert War” with Thang Thong Gyalpo’s “Prayer for Peace” in the FPMT Foundation Store, while supplies last:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Prayer-Flag-to-Avert-War_p_392.html
Many other prayer flags to send blessings out into the world are also available in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Prayer-Flags_c_159.html
This “Prayer for Peace” was originally posted by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, where you can read Rinpoche’s complete comments on it:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/prayer-peace
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche circumambulating Medicine Buddha statue at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Australia is experiencing what is becoming its worst fire season ever, affecting tens of thousands of people and countless animals.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has given advice on several occasions on practices to do in order to dispel and protect from fire, which can be found in the PDF “Practices and Advice to Dispel Fires.” This advice includes instruction on Medicine Buddha practice, White Umbrella practice, the Heart Mantra of Arya Vairochana, Kshitigarbha practice, Chenrezig practice, and more.
You can also find additional instruction on practice to do in Rinpoche’s short advice given in 2017 on California wildfires. The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive also has a page for Rinpoche’s advice on fires.
A deer friend at Amitabha Buddha Pure Land in an area affected by past wildfires, Washington, US, 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice “Practices and Advice to Dispel Fires” can be found here:
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/teachers/zopa/advice/Fires-Practices-for-dispelling-1.pdf
Find links to recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings from Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Latvia, France, and more:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khadro-la offering a khata at Boudha Stupa, Nepal, November 2019. Photo by Harald Weichhart.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave the following advice to Dharma centers on what to do when experiencing difficulties.
When your luck/controlling power is down, then obstacles come. (You are blamed for things even if you haven’t done them.) To make life easy, it is very important to have pujas for protection performed. Otherwise, problems come one after another. You may receive a lot of complaints from people. This also depends on how much luck/controlling power the center’s leader/director has. For the center to receive help means that it needs the karma to receive help; a lot depends on the leader, too.
Buddhism is full of methods to protect from obstacles, so we can use those. If something is beyond people’s intelligence, they can’t do anything; they can only do things if they know what to do.
It is good if centers can do things such as Medicine Buddha and Tara puja. I have been saying how Medicine Buddha puja is very powerful for success. Also, they must do regular protector prayers.
The most important thing for success is devotion and compassion—this is the cause for harmony. That is the best puja. Compassion for others cuts down on problems, and people will help you.
Devotion collects so much merit; good samaya leads to inner and outer prosperity; there is the wisdom to discriminate what is right, and everything goes well.
For example, in the USA, there are so many religions, but when problems occur, they don’t use religion, they just use politics, not spirituality. We are a Dharma organization so there is so much that you can do. Some centers have a resident teacher who can do divinations and analysis and give spiritual support to the center through practices and pujas—at the beginning of each year, like in the monasteries, or every six months is best. If some problems are about to come which you can’t predict, it is better to do pujas every six months (like Geshe Lama Konchog used to advise, and Kopan Monastery does). This will reduce problems and bring more peace.
Some things are very simple, like making a tea offering, but it can still help a lot.
From the advice “Protection from Obstacle,” given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and published on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/protection-obstacles
Links to watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s live teachings currently taking place at Kopan Monastery in Nepal:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/
Find links to recordings of Rinpoche’s recent teachings from Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Latvia, France, and more:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a visit to the Caspian Sea to bless all the beings in the sea, Russia, October 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
This year, the holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States on Thursday, November 28. Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered the following advice on how to help the tens of millions of turkeys being killed for the holiday. (For the most up to date version of this advice, please see the page “Prayers and Practices to Do for Turkeys at Thanksgiving”.)
My dear students and dear friends who want to help all sentient beings and, in particular, the animals that are killed, specifically all the turkeys killed during Thanksgiving,
Approximately forty-six million turkeys are killed for Thanksgiving, and then also approximately twenty-two million turkeys are killed for Christmas.
My suggestion on how we can benefit the turkeys is to recite the Five Powerful Mantras:
- Mantra of Kunrig
- Stainless Pinnacle Lotus Mantra
- Stainless Beam Mantra (recite one mala of this main mantra)
- Mantra of Buddha Mitrugpa
- Stainless Lotus Pinnacle Mantra of Amoghapasha
Extra mantras you can recite:
- the Chenrezig mantra (short)
- the Namgyalma mantra (short)
If you can, recite each mantra twenty-one times, or as many times as you like. You can also recite the OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ mantra (Chenrezig mantra), which, of course, contains all the entire Buddhadharma. If you can, recite one mala of OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ—or if you want to recite more, that is even better. Then, as well as the Five Powerful Mantras, you can also recite the Namgyalma mantra.
I checked many mantras to see what would benefit the turkeys, but the other mantras did not come out. According to my observation, the main mantra to recite is the Stainless Beam Mantra. This is what comes out most beneficial for the turkeys. It says in the Kangyur that if you recite the Stainless Beam Mantra seventy times, if a being has been born in the lower realms, they will definitely get liberated from there.
So, please, if you can, recite one mala of the Stainless Beam Mantra dedicated to the turkeys killed for Thanksgiving and also for Christmas.
You can visualize that nectar beams, like sun beams, are emitted from the deity to you and to every sentient being, and in particular to the turkeys. The beams totally illuminate you, your family, and all sentient beings, and in particular the turkeys. Keep reciting the mantra with this visualization.
Recite it with strong concentration and an undistracted mind. Don’t recite the mantra with your mind thinking about the beach or sightseeing in the mountains, such as Mount Everest.
You can also recite the mantras and dedicate for the people who kill the turkeys.
You can think that you yourself are the turkeys that are going to be killed. Think of yourself in that situation. How would you feel? From that, you will then understand the incredible urgency to have someone help you and pray for you. You will then understand how important that is.
Feel this need for the prayers very strongly. And not only for all the turkeys killed this year at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but also, in general, for all animals that are killed. So many animals are killed—an unbelievable, unbelievable amount. The need for prayers for them is so urgent.
You can also use these mantras in your everyday life when you want to pray for people or animals who have died. It’s very important to know and become familiar with these mantras.
Please recite the mantras with strong bodhichitta.
Thank you very much. Sorry for making my noise, like buzzing in your ear. Thank you very much for your patience.
With much love and prayers,
Lama Zopa
Scribed by Ven. Holly Ansett, Singapore, November 26, 2019; edited by Ven. Ailsa Cameron. Lightly edited for inclusion on FPMT.org.
Five Powerful Mantras and the Namgyalma Mantra
OṂ NAMO BHAGAVATE / SARVA DURGATI PARIŚHODHANA RĀJĀYA / TATHĀGATĀYA / ARHATE SAṂYAKSAṂBUDDHAYA / TADYATHĀ / OṂ ŚHODHANE / ŚHODHANE / SARVA PĀPAṂ VIŚHODHANE / ŚHUDDHE VIŚHUDDHE / SARVA KARMA AVARANA VIŚHUDDHE SVĀHĀ
2. Stainless Pinnacle Lotus Mantra
OṂ NAMAS TRAIYADHVIKĀNĀṂ / SARVA TATHĀGATA HRĪDAYA GARBHE JVALA JVALA / DHARMADHATU GARBHE / SAMBHARA MAMA ĀYUḤ SAṂŚHODHAYA MAMA SARVA PĀPAṂ / SARVA TATHĀGATA SAMANTOṢHṆĪṢHĀ VIMALE VIŚHUDDHE HUṂ HUṂ HUṂ HUṂ / AṂ VAṂ SAṂ JA SVĀHĀ
OṂ SARVA TATHĀGATA MALA VIŚHODHAṆI RUDDHA / VOLA PRATI SAṂKARA / TATHĀGATĀ / DHATU DHARE / SAṂDHARA SAṂDHARA / SARVA TATHĀGATA ADHIṢHṬHĀNA ADHIṢHṬHITE SVĀHĀ
NAMO RATNA TRAYĀYA / OṂ KAṂKANI KAṂKANI / ROCHANI ROCHANI / TROTANI TROTANI / TRĀSANI TRĀSANI / PRATIHANA PRATIHANA / SARVA KARMA PARAṂ PARĀṆIME SARVASATVA NAÑCHA SVĀHĀ
5. Stainless Lotus Pinnacle Mantra of Amoghapasha
OṂ PADMO UṢHṆĪṢHA VIMALE HŪṂ PHAṬ
OṂ BHRŪṂ SVĀHĀ / OṂ AMṚITA ĀYUR DADE SVĀHĀ
Peas, a 39-pound (18-kilogram) Broad Breasted White turkey from Huron, South Dakota, poses after being chosen for pardoning at the 2018 National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation in Washington, DC. Photo by Unnamed White House staffer – Official White House social media: https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1065045640122642432, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74554246
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
For more mantras and resources for mantra recitation, visit FPMT Education Services’ page on mantras:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/mantras/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Amitabha Buddha Festival, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, US, August 2019. Photo by Chris Majors.
In a phone conversation with a student, Lama Zopa Rinpoche made these comments on how to resolve conflicts with other disciples of one’s guru, giving this advice for ridding oneself of past and present grudges by changing one’s own mind.
I have been wanting to tell you this for some time. There may have been something between you and that person before, some time ago, but now I want you to change your view of her and become harmonious with her. Change your view from your old way of looking at her and instead look at her with an open heart, seeing her as one of the pores of the guru.
The expression “pore of the guru” refers to the way in which one should regard anyone related to the guru, that is, as an integral part that is indivisible from the guru, to which consequently one should pay the same respect as to the very guru. If you do that, then she will change her way of looking at you. She won’t see you in the old way any more either, and the problem will go away.
Then, in the future, when there are differences of opinion, of course it is OK to present your ideas to her so that she has many ways of looking at things. But do so with an open heart and with love, concern, and a wish to help, without getting upset. Always view her with an open heart, as one of the pores of the guru. Then there won’t be any problems.
It’s the same with people you may be upset with now. Remember they have been very kind to you in the past. They have helped you a lot. Because of them, you have been able to experience and finish up so much of your own negative karma from the past.
Therefore, you should view them as one of the pores, and with an open heart, apologize for any difficulties in the past and thank them for all their kindness to you. This way, when you change your view of others, they can also change.
This advice “Conflicts with Fellow Students” was originally published in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/conflicts-fellow-students
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings streaming live from Russia:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/
Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.